Losing "It"

If you don't know what "It" is, then I'm sorry to say that I won't be the one to enlighten you. If you're a Mom though, you can probably gander a guess as to what I'm talking about. Late last night I started noticing the first signs of "it" and it has continued on through this morning so this may be an indication that I will have a new baby bundle of my own within a few days!

*Sorry Dad and Uncle Bruce- if you don't know what it is I'm talking about, you will have to ask your lovely wives what I'm alluding to. ;-)

It seems that Chloe has ears and knew that I was getting apprehensive about everything because she has really been speeding things up. I am playing hooky from church today because I won't be the woman whose water breaks at church! I mean, I will be seeing these people for many years and that's not the kind of first impression I want to leave with them! Of course, as it so happens, when you prepare for the worst you are usually over prepared- meaning that I'll probably sit and wait at home with nothing happening when I could have gone to church after all.

However, I am reminded of a certain someone who thought she had plenty of time to do what she was doing and subsequently just barely got to the hospital in the nick of time and was rushed through the hospital halls like a scene out of E.R.

So I think I will play it safe this go around. ;-)

Which reminds me, I have a bag to pack...

Still Waiting...

I am still here.

And baby free!

I'm not sure if that's a good thing (because I can still attempt to sleep right now on my own time) or if that's a bad thing because I'm just so tired and worn out from carrying Chloe around.

One thing is for sure though: if she's not here by Wednesday of this next week, the doctors will begin talking to me about inducing- which scares me to no end. I've heard so many horror stories of women getting Pitocin to start labor but when things start progressing too quickly and painfully, they administer an Epidural which usually slows things down and can also lead to a higher chance of needing a Cesarean Section. Yikes!

So if there's no baby keeping me away, why the quiet blog?

Well, after my last post, our computer decided to finally give up the ghost and die. I had no computer access from that time until last night! Troy had a surprise up his sleeve for me though.

If you recall, we didn't celebrate Christmas because we were in transition moving here to Texas from Louisiana. We did somehow manage to do something for Valentine's Day but then Mother's Day went by the way side because we were moving once again and we were saving our pennies for our closing costs. When the computer crashed and died, Troy secretly ordered me a laptop as a belated Christmas/Mother's Day gift. What a sweet husband!

I am still trying to figure my way around this new keyboard but I am excited to be connected again and to be able to hear music and watch videos once more! It is nice that things load quickly now instead of being bogged down like whatever was bugging our old system.

So there you go- no news is good news I guess! I am sure we will have news sooner than later though with regards to our little glow bug. But right now I have nothing to tell you since I am sticking close to home and trying to take it easy. And seeing how this is probably our last baby free weekend, I'm off to go enjoy myself!

I hope you're getting to soak up the sunshine where ever you are too!

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, we made it.

Thank goodness most of our things were still boxed up from Louisiana which made my job a little easier. We started moving Thursday in the early evening and got everything in the house by about 8:30 that night. Then began the task of unpacking. I spent all day Friday while Troy was at work putting everything away and collapsing boxes as I went. Then come Saturday, I only had 3 boxes left to unpack and then we were done.

We are now all settled in- the walls are a little bare and we need to hang curtains, but everything is where it should be and we are enjoying being homeowners... finally! Now begins the next waiting game- for little Chloe. She has strict instructions from Dad to wait until he returns home from a wedding he is attending in Shreveport this weekend and then she can come any time she likes!

So that's what I'll be doing... waiting and playing catch up. We just finally got internet and cable set up yesterday- there was a week long waiting list! You have no idea how much you depend on computers and television to help entertain you until you don't have them. And my goodness, the things that happen when you take a week off! I had over 135 blog posts to catch up on, so needless to say, if I haven't commented on what's been going on with you, it's not personal! And I may or may not be around in blogland the next few weeks- we'll see how our little *glow bug treats us! :-)

*This is one of the first few nicknames {of many, I'm sure} that little Chloe has been given. This one was made up by Troy who says Chloe rhymes with Glowy which then evolved into 'glow bug'. I think it's pretty cute!

My week has been pretty non-stop go- I have had deliveries or repair people come to the house every single day this week. Check out how my week went so far:

Monday: Mattress Giant delivers our new mattress and Peyton's big boy mattress.

Tuesday: Bassett delivers our new formal dining room table that seats 8, Pro Flowers delivers beautiful flowers that my Mom sent as a Mother's Day/Housewarming gift, the builder comes over to assess things that need to be taken care of and the painters come over to touch up spots that were missed.

Wednesday: Dr.'s Appointment for me, the plumber comes to fix our master shower {construction workers dumped cement and grout in the drain and it took heavy duty acid to loosen it up!}. Troy buys his new 'baby', an HD T.V. and sets it up that evening.

Thursday: Verizon comes to set up the new 'baby' and internet; hallelujah! Construction workers come over to fix the creak in the top step, cement pourer comes to fill holes in our sidewalk, then we had a visit from the members of our church Bishopric that evening.

Today: Absolutely nothing but relaxation!

Oh, but don't even get me started on all of the errands we've been running in addition to all of the 'visitors' we've been having- let's just say that Lowes and Target have become close friends this past week! :-)

Well, that's all that's been going on with us! We'll post more updates {and hopefully pictures!} a little later. Hope all is going well in your neck of the woods!

Random Thoughts on a Wednesday

I threw out my shower curtain today.

It felt good.

It wasn't what I wanted when I initially picked it out so every time I walked into our bathroom, it was like a big ugly reminder of how absolutely drab and boring the room looked with that curtain just hanging there {which I guess is what it's supposed to do- but couldn't it at least do its job with some pizazz?}.

Thankfully, the only shower curtain I need to worry about now is the kids bathroom upstairs.

I can deal with that!
____________________

I've decided that I hate Geico!

No offense if you use Geico, or are thinking about using Geico, have a cousin that uses Geico or work for Geico. If I hear one more commercial about "That's the money you could be saving with Geico!", I think I'll scream. The gecko was funny- the first 10 commercials they aired. Then it got really old, really fast.

Don't even get me started on the cave men.

Troy likes them, I don't. But I must say, I'd rather cave men than a stack of money with googly eyes- so weird! So silly!
____________________

I went to the doctors office today...

Chloe is headed in the right direction- head down. No internal investigation today, which was a little strange since they did one with Peyton around the same time in Louisiana. They'll check up on things next week when I'm at 38 weeks since they don't want to poke around and disturb anything. I delivered Peyton at 39 weeks and he was three days earlier than his due date so we'll see what little miss glow bug decides to do.
____________________

Get this: the bed we ordered Peyton has been discontinued. The furniture place decides to tell us this, by email, AFTER we had already paid for it and were counting on it being delivered three weeks away. They're refunding our money back to our account {how nice of them!}

So now it's back to the drawing board. And of course now I have mother's guilt that Peyton will be sleeping on a mattress on the floor with nothing else in the room yet Chloe will have a nursery full of pretty things.
_____________________

Tomorrow we close on the house and move! Troy thinks we can do it all in one day even though it's a Thursday and a work night. I'm hoping he has enough helping hands! Everything is pretty much boxed up and ready to go. On the agenda today is scrubbing the bathrooms and cleaning the windows. Yesterday, I wiped down the refrigerator and the stove, all of the cabinets and the counters of the kitchen so the very last thing I'll need to do will be sweep/mop/vacuum the floors once the furniture is out tomorrow. I'm ready to be settled already!

I'll see you on the other side when I'm writing from our new study! I'm hoping unpacking is painless and quick {I can always dream, right?}

I'll let you know how everything went...

After this commercial break! :-)

Wild Thing!

Wild thing, You make my heart sing!

You make everything... groooovy.

Wild thing, I think I l♥ve you! But I wanna know for sure...

So come on hold me tight!

I l♥ve you!

The Photographic Artist Mom

Please welcome my second guest blogger, Becky Thalgott, from her personal blog 'A Peek Into Our {Big Easy} Life'! She has amazed me over the years as I've watched her dabble with photography and the result of her work is always incredible. I've asked her to share a bit about what inspired her, what type of equipment she likes to use and some tips to help us spruce up our own photos a bit. I hope you enjoy!

And if you are in the New Orleans area, you might see if she's available for a photo session! Check out samples of her work and find contact information for her at: Becky Thalgott Photography.

Thanks Becky!

My Photographic Journey (so far...)

So, Lexi asked me to guest blog for her probably a month ago or so. I agreed and thought I'd get on it right away, right? Righhhhhht. Lexi was probably starting to think Chloe would be one before I finally got on the stick and got this finished up. But I'm happy to say I'm finally typing this up.

For starters, let me explain what Lexi "assigned" me to write about. She asked me to give a brief overview of my journey in photography--a little about where I started and a little about where I am now, perhaps give a few tips, and share a little about what equipment I use. I hope what I write here will make at least the smallest amount of sense. It seems I can really ramble when on the subject of photography. It's kind of hard to keep it basic sometimes and not get too far all over the place. AND...before I really get going here, please keep in mind--I do not in any way, shape, or form consider myself an expert. I still feel like I have so much to learn and am learning something new every time I pull out my camera. This is just a little bit about what I've learned SO FAR. Because it truly is a journey after all...

1. IN THE BEGINNING
So, I have always loved pictures. Always. I was the girl in high school who packed a camera with me wherever and whenever I could. I asked for cameras for my birthdays (and let's not talk about the one I received for my 18th birthday and dropped it in a creek and watched the water sweep it away just two weeks later) and took pictures of every possible thing I could. My bedroom wall was plastered with snapshots, much to my mother's dismay since it ruined the wall. So, moral of the story--the obsession with pictures has been there as long as I can remember.

And then 4 1/2 years ago, I gave birth to my oldest son and the obsession really went wild. I had a regular old point and shoot digital camera and took over 1,000 pictures during his first year. And if there was one thing I was dying to have during that time, it was a camera that took a picture without a shutter delay (like you get with standard point and shoot cameras). We all know how quickly a baby smile can fade and I felt like even though I was taking pictures of him almost ever day, I was missing the best ones because a lot of them were over as quickly as they had begun--and that dang delay on the camera.

So, I would say that was my number one reason in wanting a new camera. I was also an avid scrapbooker as well and wished for higher quality pictures for my pages. But my reason in buying/wanting a new camera was not to become a "photographer" from a career perspective, but to simply take better pictures of my son.

I formulated a plan to get my camera. First, my husband needed to graduate from law school so I could justify a purchase like that. :) And then my plan got underway. I had saved my pennies from various items I sold on ebay or custom scrapbook/card projects I had done for others to make money. After a few months, I finally had enough to purchase my first digital SLR camera. So, in July of 2006, I bought a Nikon D50 and am still shooting with it today. Three years going strong, baby!

2. THE EVOLUTION
So now that you made it through the boring story of how and why I even got my camera in the first place, here's the fun part. A little bit about the pictures...how they looked then and how they look now. The following three pictures were taken the day after I bought my camera. I was in love with the thing and the fact that it could take about 10 pictures in the time my other camera would have taken 1. But aside from the fact that the boy in the pictures is very, very cute, the pictures are pretty blah and are lacking anything spectacular. They aren't sharp and clear and don't have much in the way of composition either.
But he was stinkin' cute, though, that's for sure.
Here, I clearly wasn't concerned about what time of day I was taking the picture. Noonday sun...not the best.
I took these three pictures above all in "auto mode" with the standard kit lens that came with my camera. My camera came with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, definitely nothing to scream about, but at this point, I didn't care much at all. I was just happy as could be snapping away in auto mode.
And then, the following Christmas (about six months after I got my camera), my husband bought me a new lens as a gift. I got the 50mm f/1.8 lens and started playing around with it more. I totally credit this lens for being the reason I started to get brave enough to explore the in's and out's of exposure (without getting into a lengthy discussion on exposure--exposure is the combination of light+aperture+shutter+ISO speed). The picture above was taken with my 50mm lens. The nice blurred background you see is referred to as "depth of field". Lower aperture lenses (meaning a low f/ number) allow you a lot of ability to switch things up to get a more dramatic depth of field in pictures. This is what I really started loving. My pictures were more sharp, more crisp, just had a little more "punch" to them. This was the point where I started switching my camera from auto mode to aperture priority mode more often (not completely manual, but does allow you to have control over the depth of field).

So I played around with this lens a lot. I read some books, did some more playing, wash, rinse, repeat...I was really starting to understand aperture at least. So a few more months went by and then my sister got engaged and had a wedding date for August of that year. She called one day a month or two before the wedding and asked if I would help out with pictures. I agreed. Yikes! OK, so then I really had to get reading and practicing even more (I'll give you a few book suggestions at the end of my post). Shooting a wedding was totally frightening and it was even just my sister! (I don't plan on offering my services as a wedding photographer any time soon!) But it was SUCH a great learning experience for me. And after all was said and done, I ended up being fairly pleased with a fair amount of the shots. Here are a few of my favorites of her wedding. I shot the entire wedding with my camera in aperture priority mode with the 50mm lens.



And then...I flew home from her wedding in Idaho and gave birth to my second son about five weeks later. When I had him, things REALLY went nuts-o. :) I didn't want to miss a thing and I thought I took a lot of pictures of my oldest as a baby, but it was nothing compared to this. He was my guinea pig and I tried all sorts of things with a new baby to photograph. After a few months more or practice, I felt like I finally "really" got it. "It" being the entire concept of exposure and how and why I would want to completely manually control my settings. After this time, I started using full manual mode most of the time (which believe me, when I got my camera, I NEVER EVER thought I would do, it confused me SO much!). In full manual, you choose your own aperture, your own shutter speed, and your own ISO. I also manually set my white balance most of the time as well.
3. EDITING
So, after getting my camera figured out, I really wanted to work on my editing skills. After seeing many a photographer's amazing pictures, I knew mine still lacked something--big time. They just didn't have the punch I was looking for and at this point, I realized that editing is nearly as important as the picture itself. And I won't go into a big explanation of how to edit a picture (since the possibilities there are truly endless), but I will mention a few things just as an FYI.

I edit nearly all of my pictures (ones that you would be seeing, anyways) to at least some degree. If it's just snapshot type pictures on my family blog, there isn't a whole lot of editing involved, but if I am taking pictures for a client, I spend a lot more time on them getting them to look "just so". I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. It is considered to be a "watered down" version of Photoshop. I have yet to find much that I need that Elements doesn't have. And it is waaaaay cheaper than Photoshop. I have been very happy with it. I have played around with actions here and there. I bought a set of Photoshop actions about a year and a half ago and used them for a while, but didn't really like them all that much in the end, and found a method of my own that I really liked using. So essentially, I edit each picture individually. I tend to stick to editing that just enhances the picture and doesn't change the look of it very much. I don't care too much for textures and different tints and finishes. Not that they are bad by any means, it's just not really my personal style. I love color and try my hardest to just enhance and bring out vivid colors that were already in the picture. I often even have a hard time liking black & whites if I've seen what the color version looks like. But again, that is just me personally...

Here are a couple examples of the straight out of the camera shot (sooc) vs. the edited version. I generally do a little cropping, color adjusting, and sharpening and that's about it. Not a lot really, but enough to make them pop a little bit.

4. A FEW FINAL TIDBITS & A LITTLE ADVICE
I am often asked what equipment I use, so I'm just going to list it all right here in one place...
Nikon D50 dSLR camera (been shooting with it for 3 years, it's been a great camera)
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens
Nikkon 85mm f/1.8 lens (my newest lens and my current favorite, the 50mm falls in 2nd place)
Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens (kit lens that came with my camera, not great quality, I haven't had it on my camera for over a year)
Nikkor 70-300 f/4-5.6 lens (don't use it very often, but it is nice when I need the distance)
Nikon SB600 speedlight

And now for a few tips and a little advice. Again...I am not an expert by ANY stretch of the imagination, but these are just a few things I've picked up a long the way.
1. Outdoor pictures are best in the morning or early evening. I personally tend to like early evening light the best. It's smooth and flattering. Midday sun is no good.
2. Flash is yucky. Built in flash on cameras is terrible. Nothing can ruin skin tones and flatten a picture like flash. If I do have to use flash, I use my external flash unit (speedlight), which I still don't love, but it is better than the built in flash. I try at all costs to avoid using flash and try to manipulate the natural light the best I can in order to keep the flash off.
3. For indoor pictures, lighting at midday from a north or south facing window (the bigger the better) is very very nice. For all of my newborn shoots, I use all natural lighting and set up next to a nice big window in my house.
4. A few books I have loved reading and re-reading are "The Digital Photography Book" & "The Digital Photography Book 2" by Scott Kelby and "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. Also, any of Scott Kelby's Photoshop books are EXCELLENT.
5. Keep in mind--If I can do it, you can do it. Seriously, folks! Pressing a button was all I knew about photography three years ago. It is very intimidating to buy a fancy camera and all that jazz, but if you start breaking things down one step at a time, you really can learn it. So if you have an interest or have started learning and are frustrated, don't give up!
6. All tips & tricks and in's & outs aside, remember that because YOU are capturing your family's memories, YOU are the world's best photographer. There could never be a replacement for you. I am a firm believer in taking pictures of every day life, the here & now, so our kids can look back and see what real life was like for them--not just yearly portraits. So don't hold back--keep on taking pictures--regardless of what your photography skills are like. 100 years from now when your great grandkids have pictures of their grandparents (your kids) to look at, they will thank you...and they will think you were the best photographer on the planet!

So this ends the longest blog post in history, and I'm just hoping I didn't lose you 50 paragraphs back there. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have by leaving a comment (I'm always up for photography talk). Also, feel free to check out my photo blog where I post my latest work. You can view it HERE. And I'll leave you with a few of my current favorite photos (all but one of them are of my kids, so how can they not be favs, right?):

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

In less than one week, I will be here:

But in order to get from here to there, I have to deal with packing these:

Which is hard because I feel as slow as:

And all I want to do is this:

Plus, I'm feeling like I have one of these wedged up my shirt:

And that really isn't as comfortable as you would think.

Meanwhile, little miss Chloe has perfected this:

She may have the moves, but I am about as flexible as:

Which is actually to say, not at all. *I wish*

Because you can't really be flexible when your body is shaped like this:

And that makes it hard to move these when you really get down to it:


So I just end up doing this instead:

{Only without the bubbles and the fun striped socks.}


I guess I'm just waiting for one of these to come home and help me:

I have so many you know :-)

And that's what I've been doing... or not doing lately {if you want to get technical}.

The end.

Her Morning Elegance

What's playing in my head today:

May Showers and Flowers on Cinco De Mayo

* Sorry Cheri, it was Cinco De May-No at our house last night. Troy got in late so we just had left overs {spaghetti... about as un-Cinco De Mayan as you can get!} We'll probably try to do something next year though! Maybe Peyton would have fun with a pinata- and you can never go wrong with fajitas or quesadillas! :-)

Yesterday, Chloe and I were showered with love and all things pink and delightful at my friend/Visiting Teacher/Relief Society President's home. Cheri has an absolutely lovely home and I quickly fell in love with her lush green back yard that was surrounded by tall leafy trees and a calm and tranquil mirrored pool.

She's also a girl after my own heart with leather bound editions of the classics on her bookshelves- Dickens, Hawthorne, Alcott and more. In addition to that, she has striking works of art arranged tastefully on her walls and the decor lends itself to comfort and bliss!
Let me preface the remainder of this post by saying that when Troy and I made the move from Louisiana to Texas, I told myself that I probably wouldn't have a baby shower since I wouldn't know anyone well enough to have one in the short amount of time I was in Richardson. It wasn't that I was looking for gifts {although they are nice!} I really just wanted to spend some time with good friends and for Chloe to know when she was older that she was celebrated and showered with love just as much as her older brother was by my friends in Baton Rouge.

So imagine my astonishment when not only did the members of the church here in Plano formulate a plan for a shower in Chloe's honor, they also invited members of my new church out in Rowlett so I could better get to know the ladies that I'll be living and spending time with for the next several years!

My friend Julie from Rowlett made this super cute diaper cake- and it was her first attempt! I think it looks precious.

Here is a mix of friends from both Plano and Rowlett. My friend closest in this picture at the bottom right is Ginger- she actually just moved FROM Rowlett to Plano so it was neat to hear how much she loves the people out in Rowlett. She was thoughtful enough to invite us to her little girl's birthday celebration a few weeks back so that we could meet her friends from out in Rowlett and so that we'd have a few friendly and familiar faces to look forward to seeing once we were settled in.

Cheri is the angel in the coral pink shirt behind me. She put together a wonderful little luncheon with a little help from her friends. The spread included mini croissant sandwiches, two different spinach salads, a chinese chicken salad, fruit salad, blueberry cheesecake bars, magic bars and my favorite, cucumber punch! Ginger also made this super cute teddy bear cake that looked like it took forever to pipe- and it had Chloe's name on it! It was every bit as tasty as it looked.

What would a shower for a baby girl be without a plethora of cute and adorable things to doll her up in? Let me just say that Chloe will be one fashionable little baby girl! These ladies definitely spoiled her {and me!}.

We all had clothespins on and were trying our hardest not to say the word 'cute'. Whoever said the forbidden word had their clothespin taken away! Needless to say, 'cute' is very hard NOT to say when everything you are opening up and seeing is indeed cute. :-)

My friend Natalie from the Plano church made me this blanket that has different squares of fabric sewn together and the back {which I'm looking at in the picture} has a frayed effect which will be fun for little fingers to explore. Not only was this a soft and beautiful blanket, it smelled heavenly too! In fact, I couldn't stop smelling it and had to write Natalie an email to find out what laundry detergent she uses!

FYI: It is Tide with bleach and Downy. She thinks it's probably the Downy that makes it smell so wonderful and I'm inclined to pick some up at Sam's next time I'm there since it smells so great!

My other friend Wendy also made Chloe a blanket and crocheted three layers around the edge of the blanket in alternating pink, purple and pink again. It was also very lovely and had a fun and delightfully girly girl pattern to it. No pictures of that blanket- but trust me when I say that it is... well, CUTE! :-)

Last but not least, a few of the gals got together for a group gift of some money that I could put toward whatever I'd like. I've already staked my eyes on a glider for Chloe's room since I didn't have a chair for Peyton's room when he was an infant {I just sat on the spare room bed and nursed him}. The chair I'm looking at getting is so comfortable- I can't wait to order it! I just might never leave her room.

I was so grateful for everything that Cheri and her friends Lisbeth and Jenn did to make sure that Chloe I were taken care of. I had a great time visiting with everyone and I hope to stay in touch with all of my friends from Plano. Thanks everyone!